


Fire

by WolfenM



Series: Here's Looking at You, Kid [3]
Category: Journey into Mystery, Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Thor (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Big Brothers, Bromance, Brother Feels, Brotherhood, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Character Study, Crying, Crying-Boy Fetish, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Good Loki, Introspection, Kid Loki, Loki Angst, Loki Feels, Loki Needs a Hug, Loki Redemption, Loki-centric, Men Crying, Philosophy, Poor Loki, Protective Siblings, Protective Thor, Redemption, Thor Feels, Thor Is Not Stupid, Thor Is a Good Bro, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-16 07:08:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3478955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfenM/pseuds/WolfenM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thanks to Kid Loki's idea of saving Asgardia (fallen Asgard) from one enemy by bringing in another bad boy, most of the Asgardians wants Loki dead — and they hold a trial to prove it. Even if the Norns (the Norse Fates) can convince the populace of Asgard that Loki deserves to live, can anyone convince Loki of this?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fire

**Author's Note:**

> **Spoilers:** for Thor V3 issues #1-12, #600-622, The Siege: Loki, The Mighty Thor #s1-6, Journey into Mystery #s 623-626 (and including #625.1), and previews for subsequent issues, most importantly issue #631. Also some nods to the Trials of Loki graphic novel (aka Loki #s 1-4).
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** Thor, Loki, Kid Loki, Ikol, Odin, The Norns (Urd, Skuld, Verdandi), The Warriors Three (Fandral, Volstagg, Hogun) and Sif, as depicted here, © Marvel Entertainment. I'm just borrowing them the way Marvel borrowed from the original myths. :P
> 
>  **Note:** This story is unrelated to the ones prior to it in this series. It was inspired by the plot summary that was posted online in advance for _Journey Into Mystery_ #631, in which Loki is put on trial for "crimes against the 9 realms", dealing with his actions in the struggle against the God of Fear. (I was also influenced some by online summaries of #627-8, as well as _Mighty Thor_ #6.) I assumed this had to do with him bringing Surtur out of Limbo, as Loki-of-old enlisted Surtur in helping him bring about Ragnarok. Many references are made in this fic to events that occurred in the comics over the years. This fic was originally published at deviantART in September of 2011, and has since been thoroughly Jossed by canon. While I like Thorki/Thunderfrost myself, this is not a slash Thorki fic.
> 
> While this story is always in third person, the guide below explains from whose view each section is:  
> “| ==V== |” means the section directly following it is from Loki's POV.  
> c==[] means the section directly following it is from Thor's POV.

“| ==V== |”  
"You were right, it was a mistake! I regret bringing him back! Does that make you happy?"  
  
That was all Loki needed to hear — and more than he'd wanted — to send him running down the corridor. Having encountered a few angry Asgardians upon his departure from Dark Asgard, he knew his people were not happy about him having brought Surtur out of Limbo. In fact, they were far angrier than he'd imagined — he'd barely outrun them! He'd needed to see Thor, see if his brother was likewise angry; judging from what Thor had just said to Sif and the Warriors Three, apparently Thor was. Loki remembered how, not long after Loki had done something _else_ the Norns had told him to, Thor had been furious, but later forgave him. Loki didn't think Thor would be so forgiving this time.  
  
He'd lost his only true ally and friend.  
  
Loki almost didn't care when, a few moments later, he was caught by a gaggle of Asgardians and thrown in the dungeon. He lay unmoving where he'd been tossed; his proverbial heart crushed, he was as good as dead already, but soon, he was sure, the Asgardians would make that death real. As it was, he wasn't really sure why they _hadn't_ yet.  
  
A flutter at a high, out-of-reach window drew Loki's attention. "Looks like your plan failed," Loki told Ikol, the melancholy ghost of a grin flitting across his lips quick as the flutter of the magpie's wings.  
  
" _My_ plan? This was _your_ debacle," the bird returned, clearly annoyed.  
  
"Not _that_ plan. The one you had to have a second chance at life, a chance to start over. Looks like that life won't have lasted too long, in the end." Loki gave a humourless chuckle. "And it also looks like erasing my memory couldn't prevent me from becoming like you. I mean, you brought Surtur against Asgard before ...." It wasn't a question.  
  
"You only just now figured that out?" Ikol replied with no little derision. "You could have read that on the internet, or in a book in Midgard, or even asked Thor, but you didn't ...."  
  
"I guess I was afraid that learning about my past would give me ideas." The last thing he'd wanted was any temptation to repeat the previous Loki's mistakes — or to remind Thor of them.  
  
" _My_ past," Ikol sniffed. "Don't go taking credit for my deeds." If Loki didn't know better, he'd think Ikol was trying to cheer him up. "You know, _you_ may not have much of my power, but _I_ still do. I could get you out of here."  
  
"To what purpose? So that I may live alone, on the run, for the rest of my days?"  
  
"Alone?" Ikol repeated, flapping his wings indignantly.  
  
"You're not the best company, my not-so-fine-feathered not-friend," Loki half-heartedly teased.  
  
"Point taken. So you'd rather be dead?"  
  
Loki was quiet a long moment, then, "If everyone would be happier — and safer — without me, yes."  
  
"And by 'everyone', you mean Thor." The bird's tone was unreadable — probably, Loki suspected, because even now, Ikol seemed torn between love and resentment of the God of Thunder.  
  
But Loki wasn't torn — not this Loki, anyway. In fact, all things considered, while it hurt that Thor hated him again, that his brother's love had proved to have limits, Loki could not blame his brother for hating him. Besides, hadn't Loki decided, as per Thor's advice, on completing the task the Norns had given him even if he lost everything in the process? Thor has said he would do so himself in such a situation; how could Loki do any less?  
  
" _Saving_ Thor was one thing," Ikol went on, "but you ... you would _willingly_ d—"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Ikol shook his head slowly. "It's hard to imagine that I could ever have turned out this way."  
  
" _Now_ who's taking credit for someone else's deeds?" Loki found himself genuinely smirking for a moment.  
  
"And it's not like you have not been ill-treated," Ikol added, ignoring the verbal jab. "Although you certainly have not suffered as much as _I_ once did," he added a bit haughtily, as if it were a contest.  
  
"Did you _really_ suffer so?" Loki wondered.  
  
Ikol bobbed his head. "More than you could ever know ... but since you won't let me take you out of here, we could pass the time with me telling you all about it."  
  
Loki snorted. "As if I could trust whatever you tell me to not be highly slanted in your favour."  
  
"Of course. I did once tell you not to trust a word I say, didn't I? Tricksters can lie to _themselves_ as easily as anyone else!"  
  
A scraping sound from behind Loki drew his attention, cutting off any retort he might have made. From beyond the bars of his dank prison, and under a ragged hood, a pair of eyes regarded him.  
  
Skuld, one of the horrid, hateful Norns.  
  
"Perhaps I might grant your last request in a more reliable manner than the bird could," she offered, waving a hand. The lone torch in the room, beyond the child Loki's reach, suddenly glowed green. "Gaze into the flames, and see your history, without bias." And before he could ask her anything — like _why_ she was doing this — she was gone.  
  
With nothing better to do, both Loki and Ikol peered curiously into the flames.  
  
c==[]  
" _He saved our lives!_ " Thor roared for what felt like the thousandth time. Why weren't they "getting it", as his alter ego, Donald Blake, would put it?  
  
Not even an hour ago, a mass of Asgardians informed Thor and his father that they had imprisoned Loki with the intent to try him for treason, seeking his execution. To Thor's horror, Odin agreed to the trial. While the Great Hall of Asgardia was prepared for the trial, Odin explained that a good leader must be willing to listen to his people. He also pointed out that it's easier to sway minds within a trial than by demand, as a good defence counsel allowed the people to come to conclusions on their own, whereas being told to accept a belief often only garnered resentment and stubborn refusal. Thor sometimes forgot that Odin was supposed to be a god of wisdom, but he certainly remembered now.  
  
Thor was a bit dismayed, though, when he learned that _he himself_ was to be the defence counsel.  
  
"'Saving us' by freeing one of our greatest enemies isn't _saving_ us," snapped Asketill, who had served as the prosecutor over Loki's trial — or rather, the closest Asgardian equivalent. "Now we have _two_ enemies to contend with!"  
  
Thor wished they were in a Migardian court — his brother might have a fighting chance then. As it was, Loki had not even been allowed to be present at all, as the whole realm thought of him as a liar whose words could never be trusted. In truth, Thor could not say anything against that. He knew Loki would lie if it suited him to. But he also believe that, unlike Loki's elder self, it only suited the child Loki to lie for the greater good; there was just no way to prove that. Worse, while Thor believed that Odin still loved his foster-son (or at least had until this latest development), he was fairly certain that Odin did _not_ believe in Loki's better nature — you didn't actually need to believe in someone to love them, after all.  
  
And so all the court of Asgard had to go on was Loki's own admission that he had retrieved Surtur from Limbo — to fight the Serpent, God of Fear, Loki had explained. Surtur had revealed that Loki had promised him Asgard for his efforts. It was obvious to Thor that Loki had been tricking Surtur, that Loki had promised Surtur Asgard where she had once been, which Odin had commanded they begin building, but which had lately become occupied by the Serpent. They still had the _other_ Asgard — know known as Asgardia — even if it was fallen, Thor had argued with Odin and the court; they didn't need two! Surtur would have been freed sooner or later, Thor also pointed out. Now the demon was back under _their_ terms. Under _Loki's_ , Asketill had countered. Thor had returned that this Loki had forgotten all the grief they had showered upon him, and so long as they stayed in his good graces by showing some civility and kindness, they would have nothing to fear.  
  
That hadn't gone over too well. So then Thor pointed out that, with the Serpent and Surtur engaged in evenly-matched combat and neither of them willing to concede defeat or join forces against their common enemy (Asgardia), the Asgardians now had time to work out a plan — perhaps decades or even centuries worth! But all his brethren could see was that they were once again exiled to Midgard, their rightful space in Yggdrasil's branches shamefully overrun by their enemy. Never mind that Loki had not brought the initial evil, the Serpent, upon them. Never mind that that was actually _Odin's_ doing; only Loki would be made to pay, despite the fact that they would all have perished without his actions.  
  
Sometimes, in the wake of his people's stupidity, Thor was tempted to retire to Midgard — except that that same stupidity was a threat from which Midgard often needed protecting, and it was better to stop those threats _before_ they reached Midgard ....  
  
"With any luck, we won't have even _one_ foe left standing, after they finish with each other!" Thor countered. "And if one remains, well, Father handled Surtur single-handedly, day after day, in Limbo. Even if Surtur has gained strength since then, he will be worn out after fighting the Serpent — he could not match the might of the whole army of Asgardia!"  
  
"Oh? So if Surtur is so easily defeated, why, then, should Loki have needed to bring the demon at all? Surely Surtur cannot hope to defeat the Serpent?" Asketill sneered.  
  
"Because we told Loki to," an old woman croaked.  
  
Thor knew the voice. They all did. He did not need to turn to see who it was, so he didn't. Urd was one of the monsters who had forced them to relive the horrors of Ragnarok again and again. He would not grant her or her sisters the respect of noticing them.  
  
"You do not need to notice us for us to have an effect on your lives, Thor. But ignore us to your peril," said a younger voice — Verdandi.  
  
"You were so sure that our _loom_ was what determined your fate," an even younger voice sneered. Skuld.  
  
"Don't put the blame on us," Urd griped. "We mostly only recorded what we saw — as it was likely to happen, and then as it _did_ happen, and then as it was remembered. Fate is, always was, and always will be determined by the content of _your_ character. Those things happened again and again because you are narrow of mind and action, utterly predictable — could we ever manipulate you if that were not so? Only Loki ever understood this, but even his most valiant struggles against Destiny failed again and again — will you Asgardians continue to make his Fate ever so by refusing to believe it can be otherwise? You, whose unwavering beliefs helped shaped him into the weapon of your own demise in the first place?"  
  
"You blame _us_ for Ragnarok?" Asketill was outraged; Thor had to admit he couldn't blame him. "Even now, Loki has brought Surtur against Asgard!"  
  
Skuld walked into the center of the room, shaking her head and sighing. Thor wanted to look away, but his gut told him not to ignore Urd's warning, that he'd best pay attention.  
  
"Against _Dark_ Asgard, you mean. And Surtur's nature is that _he_ will _always_ hunger for Asgard's destruction — just as foolish Balder will always find a way to get himself killed, with our without Loki's 'help'. The difference now is that, rather than seeking Asgard's loss himself, Loki brought Surtur out to _save_ it. He sought our help to save what he loved — something most of you frequently fail to do. We can see the future, yet how often do you seek our aid to stop a coming danger? Did you ever ask us how to _stop_ Ragnarok? No. Only he, the one who was already on the verge of seeing Time in much the same way as we can, ever thought to change his future with the help of our knowledge, ever sought to truly _learn_ from us."  
  
Thor blinked at this. "See Time much as you? What do you mean?"  
  
"Loki does not lie nearly as often as you believe," Verdandi revealed, stepping into view with a smirk. "Sometimes, when he tells things differently than as they happened, it is because he is more connected to his other selves than any of the rest of you ever have tried to be, and he cannot easily tell the difference between this plane or time's self and another. Therefore, the grievances your other selves have towards his own other selves multiply upon the Loki of this and nearly every reality, creating a self in each that is often so much worse than would have been created by and in one world alone. Imagine the hatred of countless universes stacked upon you: how light and happy would _you_ become?"  
  
"Even so, he _still_ had a choice," Thor said, unhappily voicing a thought that had long plagued him, even in light of the love he bore for his brother still. "He did not _have_ to become cruel. I have seen those in Midgard who have suffered terribly yet are still kind, helpful souls." Then something occurred to him. "Since when do you speak so plainly?" They usually spoke quite cryptically!  
  
"Since we have come to prove why you need us; we haven't the time for you to suss things out, amusing as that can be. This also is not a situation where you must come to a conclusion on your own or risk missing a learning experience, which is why we are usually as vague as possible. No, this _is_ the learning experience," Verdandi explained unhelpfully.  
  
"As for Loki having a choice, that is true, to an extent," Urd agreed, stepping up beside her sisters strange. "But how much _easier_ the choice would have been had he been shown more love — and if he had been raised in a society that did not teach that violence is the expected reply even amongst friends. Do you fault him for giving in to rage, as _you_ so often do, and acting on it in his _own_ way? Do you fault yourselves for the same?"  
  
"Do you hold yourselves accountable for your own crimes with the same degree of harshness that you all have so often held _him_ to for his?" Verdandi continued. "If you hang this _boy_ , who has no knowledge of and acts not on his past, and who has _aided_ you all on spite of all the ill will you have shown this child since his rebirth, now, and if you do so for a crime borne of _love_ , then will you also hold trials, after his, for your _own_ deeds? If so, then how much _worse_ will your _own_ punishments be, for actions borne of _hate_?"  
  
The crowd shifted uncomfortably.  
  
"Or perhaps you might consider his past self's crimes against you to _already_ be your punishment — specifically, for your misdeeds towards _him_?" Skuld added.  
  
"What mean you?" Thor asked, not out of denial so much as a desire to understand his brother a little more.  
  
"Bearing in mind that we are not _excusing_ his actions, but rather offering differing perspectives that might _explain_ them," Verdandi began, "we once again offer you a taste of our power, and the use to which it might be put." She waved a hand, and a green bonfire appeared in the center of the room. "Watch, now. Here is the boy you never knew."  
  
The inner flames changed colour, bringing an image into view: they saw the home of the giant Laufey, where his wife, Farbauti, had apparently just given birth. " _Why is he so small?_ " the giant father complained. " _I-I have not had enough to eat in many long months,_ " his wife complained meekly. Laufey struck her soundly across the face for daring to place any of the blame on him, and she dropped Loki in the process. Striking a chilled stone floor, the child cried.  
  
Thor felt sudden and fierce pain and distress. He felt cold, despite being so near the magick flames of the Norns, and unbearably hungry.  
  
"What you feel is what your brother felt then," Skuld whispered in Thor's ear. "With your heart and fate so close to his, it matters not that you have no bonds of blood: so long as you stand near the flame, you will more than _see_ his history – you will _feel_ it."  
  
Thor turned his attention back to the scene in the flames, where a miserable baby Loki still wailed. " _Quiet him, or he will be my next meal,_ " Laufey snarled. Farbauti stuffed a dirty wet cloth into Loki's mouth. The child choked a moment on it, then began to suckle on the water in it until he fainted from hunger.  
  
As the Asgardians watched, the Norns showed them scene after scene of Loki's wretched childhood, where he was tossed around like a rag doll, beaten soundly by his father (often for nothing to do with him), barely fed, and all around treated as unwanted by his kin, mocked for his lack of size and for his weakness.  
  
And then the Asgardians saw a most curious thing: an older Loki, as he was not long before he died, talking to his younger, frost giant self, telling him that he must win a place in Odin's house by impressing the AllFather with his fighting spirit.  
  
"And you dare blame his evil existence on _us?_ Why, he even _told_ himself to seek to live amongst us!" Asketill insisted. "He willingly placed himself in our hands, even after knowing what his life would be like, rather than urging his younger self away from that fate!"  
  
"Oh, he conducted far more — and worse — meddling than that," Skuld teased, glancing at Odin.  
  
Was it just Thor's imagination, or did Odin look decidedly uncomfortable just then?  
  
"Don't forget that he's the one who bespelled Bor," Skuld continued, "forcing Thor to fight him. He then tricked Balder into exiling your dear prince Thor for performing what was truly an act of self-defence, as well as a defence of innocent Midgardians."  
  
"All the more reason to hate Loki!" Asketill crowed.  
  
"Most assuredly," Skuld agreed. "But then again, Balder probably should have known better, should have considered that, as king, he could have changed the law so that Thor could have stayed. Yet none of you stood up to your king or railed against Balder for exiling your champion under unfair and extenuating circumstances. Most of you blamed only Loki; at least Balder had the sense to blame himself ...."  
  
"You veer off course," Asketill accused the sisters. "You were talking about how Loki was so ill-treated, and how that led him to conspire to get himself into the house of Odin. I'd argue that Loki should therefore have been _grateful_ to Odin for sparing him a lifetime of being raised as a frost giant, instead of planning such dark deeds or manipulations as he visited upon us — especially on his own foster-family!"  
  
"Oh, to be certain," Urd agreed. "But do not delude yourself into thinking that Loki's life was suddenly all rainbows and sunshine after Odin adopted him."  
  
The fire roared. In its flames, they witnessed a condensed version of Loki's childhood and adolescence, in which he was frequently mocked and bullied. At the time, being close as he was to these bullies, Thor had thought it all harmless fun; now that he had distance, he could see the greater picture. Oh, Thor had defended his brother, certainly, but it seemed now that for every time he did (and that was often half-heartedly), there were a dozen times he missed what was happening because he was too busy enjoying the praise he recieved from those same bullies. He had not seen that every time he was vaulted, Loki was torn down. Thor felt Loki's hurt and humiliation – and his growing, smoldering hate for all around him. He also felt how Loki had once loved and admired Thor himself – and how that admiration had slowly soured into jealousy.  
  
Especially after Sif had turned Loki's attentions away with such cruel derision, only to shower Thor with affection moments later. Feeling his brother's anguish, Thor was none too pleased with Sif at that moment. Granted, unwanted affection could be annoying or worse, but it seemed that Loki had been polite and gracious and even shy — and that Sif had been considerably lacking in the grace department with her response. Thor was even less impressed with his own subsequent treatment of his brother: Thor had shown himself no stranger to jealousy either, even when his brother had proved to be no threat to his relationship with Sif.  
  
Except … now that he thought on it, Thor did not remember things happening in quite that way!  
  
"We told you that at times Loki's memories come from other dimensions, and that he cannot always tell what happened to him as opposed to one of his other selves," Skuld whispered to him.  
  
As they continued to watch, and he continued to feel what his brother had felt, Thor began to understand what she meant. There were times he could feel great confusion, even fear, from Loki as memories conflicted. Sometimes Loki's feelings ran from love to hate and back again almost at the flip of a switch, as those memories flickered between horrible ones and happy (or at least less horrible) ones. Perhaps Loki had been driven truly mad! Thor wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing, though: did it mean that Loki could be healed, or that he was truly beyond hope, with the very Universe —nay, Univer _ses_ — against him?  
  
"You," Verdandi suddenly said, pointing to Hogun and startling Thor out of his thoughts. "You were always a warrior, were you not? Born to it?"  
  
Warily, Hogun nodded.  
  
"And you?" Verdandi asked, pointing now to Sif, who nodded as well. This pattern was repeated with a few others. "Let's make this easier," Verdandi decided. "Raise your hand if you do _not_ consider yourself a warrior."  
  
A very few did, most with obvious reluctance. Verdandi pointed to one. "What are you?"  
  
"A-a craftsman. I deal in leathers."  
  
"And you?" she asked another.  
  
"A farmer," the man replied.  
  
"And has it been easy for you, living in this warrior society while not being a warrior? Oh, you don't need to answer — to say yes would paint you as weak and earn you disdain or mockery, which you have probably already had enough of. And yet there are few warriors here without some sort of leatherwork on their person. Moreover, there are _none_ here who have not eaten bread, a food which cannot exist without a farmer – or a miller. Now, what do you all think of magickers?"  
  
There was a copious round of spitting, including from Hogun — and the leatherworker and the famer.  
  
"Why do you hate them, Hogun?"  
  
"Sorcerers use trickery! They fight from a distance!"  
  
"You have never used strategy in war? Or even just a fight?"  
  
"Strategy is not the same as trickery!" Hogun protested.  
  
"Isn't it? Is strategy not about outwitting your opponent? Is trickery not the same? Even if it is not, if we say that strategy is somehow more open and honest, have you never benefitted from Loki's trickery when it was used against someone who attacked you or a loved one for unfair reasons?" Hogun did not answer, looking away. "Would you rather that you were all dead, then, than have the aid of a sorcerer?"  
  
"Not to mention how you all assume that Loki has _only_ used magick in _trickery_ ," Urd took up the defence. "Have none of you benefitted from magick in other ways? From healing spells and protections, things which Loki has _also_ cast?"  
  
"In seeking praise!" Hogun snapped. "Not for the simple sake of helping others!"  
  
"You never take pride in your own work, never seek praise from your admiring audience when Volstagg or Fandal recite tales of your grand adventures?" Verdandi asked. "Moreover, are you saying that you cannot help others _and_ feed your ego at the same time?"  
  
Hogun was speechless, and not in the usual way.  
  
"Oh, I see, you _do_ seek stroking of your ego even as you sincerely wish to help others," Skuld observed. "But somehow you consider this an impossibility for Loki; the heavens forbid you should have anything in common with a sorcerer, right? Yet ... _Odin_ has used magick; do you revile _him_?"  
  
"If I weighed your hearts, as Anubis of Egypt does with his people, would any of you be found pure, having never brought any pain to an innocent?" Urd added. "Or do you hate Loki because when he acts in hate, his actions are far more _effective_ than yours? Would your own hate, from throughout your life, actually weigh less than his? Would you dare to find out, if you were to suffer the same penalties as you would visit upon him if the answer was yes?"  
  
No one in the crowd would raise their eyes now, Thor noted, all of them casting their gazes to the ground.  
  
"So imagine you are a being with great innate magickal talent and virtually no physical ability, and you live amongst a warrior society that makes much noise, every day, about reviling your talent and your true species — this on top of you having previously lived in a place where you suffered great physical and verbal abuse. Now you may suffer only verbal abuse, and not as much as before, but does that make what you suffer all right just because it's less, like a rape is oft considered a less severe crime than a murder, and a robbery less than a rape? Does that somehow make his treatment _acceptable_ , the fact that it's arguably less harmful than what he has suffered before?"  
  
"For that matter," Verdandi offered, "had he truly suffered less, physically speaking, when he had to push his body beyond its endurance every day in order to keep up with the rest of you? When he was battered and bruised in the name training he didn't really even want and which everyone else excels at, but he still had to participate in if he was to have even the slightest hope of survival amongst you?"  
  
"And maybe that's fair," Skuld added. "It's survival of the fittest, a Law of the Universe. But if you are a sentient being, would you not resent the Universe for creating you as you are and then abusing you so for it? For giving you a fierce desire to live but not the skill to do so with as much ease as your fellows? Or _did_ it grant you the skills – just different ones from most everyone else? Did the Universe not give Loki magick and wit as his ways of surviving? Should he not use what he was given, just as you use your swords and hammers? You kill your enemies; why would you expect any less of him?"  
  
"Because we were not his enemies! We took him in; we became his people!" Thor burst out, in a sorrowful lament more than anger.  
  
"Not all of you, Thor; not even most. No one should be surprised when a dog who is abused by his masters turns on them. Perhaps he was wrong to visit his wrath upon _you_ , his dear foster-brother — although even you bullied him from time to time — but the world held you up as the stone upon which he was beaten against. He admired you until no one would let him forget that _he_ was _not_ you, and never could be, and that nothing he was would ever be acceptable."  
  
The fire roared again, showing them endless moments where Loki was mocked and maligned, injured in training and then made to feel worthless for it, shunned for his magick even after he did good with it. Thor understood then that, at least at first, Loki's trickery was his way of raising himself up, conquering those who had conquered him in the arena or humiliated him. There was hate in the things he did back then, but those actions were born out of a need to avenge and prove himself, and _not_ out of nothing but unprovoked malice, as so many assumed and claimed.  
  
"Are we supposed to feel sorry for him? He's the one who sent himself into that situation in the first place!" Asketill sniffed.  
  
"Which came first, the adult or the child?" Skuld. "Both. What we just showed you about his life in Asgard is the same record regardless of whether we're talking about Loki's life before or after he altered his own timeline — he ended up amongst your people either way, and you still honed him into the same weapon. The adult acted on what your people had done to him. Yes, he could have sent himself off into the woods alone — where he probably would have died — but instead he chose a path that would ultimately give him the upper hand. And really, what else could his younger self have done?"  
  
It occurred to Thor then that Loki's later, greater evils, as the sisters then revealed, could often be considered to have been replies to old slights, accrued with interest.  
  
Unfortunately, though, as Loki grew more bitter over the centuries, Loki (as Thor learned through his emotional connection to the flames) stopped feeling any remorse for collateral damage — and even, in his worst moments, sometimes found _satisfaction_ in the harming of innocents. Thor could feel and understood, chillingly, that this was not motiveless malice either, but rather borne in part of a sick sense of camaraderie. That part of Loki's pleasure came from seeing others suffer as he did, and knowing that he was not alone in his pain. The other part was joy that came in knowing that he could influence the lives of others, be in control, after having felt so powerless for so long.  
  
It was arrogance not all that unlike the arrogance Thor had once known, that which had prompted Odin to strip Thor of his power and send him to Asgard as a mortal. Once upon a time, the lives of those in Midgard hadn't meant any more to Thor than the life of an ant had meant to a human: sometimes an object of amusement, but usually beneath notice. Thor had forgotten that; how could he vilify Loki for thinking that way and yet not himself in the same breath? Yes, eventually Thor came to see the error of his ways, but then could not the same be said of Loki now?  
  
"Perhaps you did not do such a great job of shaping Loki into a weapon," Verdandi remarked.  
  
"What mean you by that?" Asketill wondered. "Not that I will accept the blame for shaping him, but you just showed us some pretty terrible deeds — which I don't think helps your case, by the way."  
  
Verdandi spoke to Asketill much as a teacher to an obtuse child. "If Loki were truly so malicious as your folk believed, then why were there so many instances where he could have killed Thor, killed _everyone_ , but he did not do so?"  
  
Asketill snorted. "He killed us often enough! Perhaps he simply wanted a change of pace the times he did not."  
  
"You assume that, when he killed you, he did not know or believe you would return."  
  
" _Bill_ won't," Asketill replied venomously.  
  
"No, but is there any among you who wouldn't gladly go to Valhalla? Would the mortal have achieved this otherwise?" Skuld asked.  
  
"Can he truly be happy without Kelda there?" Thor asked, still sad for his friends.  
  
"I suppose he wasn't for a while, but since Kelda is there now, how could you be anything but happy for them?" Skuld wondered.  
  
There wasn't a sound to be had for long seconds.  
  
"She died in battle tonight. She is with her lost love and they will be together in joy for eternity. Can you honestly tell me you're not happy for them? Are you really all that selfish that you care more about having her beauty at your side than knowing she is happy again — and more, will ever be so?" Skuld crossed her arms, clearly disgusted. "Did it occur to any of you that Loki didn't think overmuch about killing Bill because not only did it suit his plans in a multitude of ways, but because he knew it would end well for them? Did the rest of you have so little faith in Kelda that you couldn't think she might ever reach Valhalla herself? While Loki's most recent plans may have had selfish aims, that doesn't mean he didn't _also_ help others — just as we suggested earlier that he could."  
  
The fire showed them a moment when, after the fall of Asgard, Loki lamented that they had all grown too predictable, had lost their glory, how they needed to start anew. As the crowd watched the flames dance, they saw how Loki manipulated Doom and Osborn and Balder, and even Mephisto and Hela and the Disir. They watched in awe as Loki even _fought_ the Disir, something Thor knew to be no easy task, even with the help of the magic sword Loki used.  
  
"Well, that should impress you, earn him some respect, shouldn't it? Knowing he is not a born warrior, think of how hard he must have trained to pull that off!" Verdandi mused. "And consider this: he brought the Disir under control and gave Hela a new Hel; besides being a kindness to her, what would have happened to you without it? You would have wandered with no rest until the Disir ate your souls, killing you _permanently_ , that's what!"  
  
"I thought he did all that to save himself, so he would be written out of the Book of Hel," Thor pointed out. He wanted to defend his brother, but he wouldn't lie to himself to do it. He thought he could see where this was going: this was all an insanely elaborate plan of Loki's to give himself a new beginning. If that was true, then even Loki's apology and sacrifice had been fake, a dupe to get Thor to wish him back.  
  
It didn't matter, though. Thor would have eventually missed Loki and sought his return even if Loki had never put on his little show. Besides, with or without the old Loki's machinations, whatever had brought the new Loki into being, the child was still good. But this story the Fates were telling now didn't seem to be serving the cause to _save_ the child, despite the sympathetic beginning! What were they up to?  
  
"When Hel was _gone_ , and the Disir were under his control, why would he need to be written out of the Book?" Skuld asked Thor turn. "He didn't have to arrange a new Hel for Hela and all of you. It would have been less grief for him to just leave things be."  
  
"You act like we should be grateful for what Loki arranged!" Asketill protested. "It was only right he fixed things, seeing he's the one who cost us Hel in the first place!"  
  
"Since when would you expect an _enemy_ to fix what they've ruined for you?" Urd countered.  
  
"Y-you're the ones suggesting he's not an enemy!" Asketill sputtered.  
  
"He's not one _now_. As for then, we were just explaining _why_ he became your often-enemy. Anyway, you're the one both proclaiming that he _is_ an enemy _and_ saying that he owed you in the same breath. Besides, even if we go with the 'he's not your enemy' sentiment, when have any of you _never_ broken something important to you or those you care about?" Skuld added. "Again, we're back to the question of 'Are you expecting more of him than you would expect of yourselves?'"  
  
"Let's get back to the _narrative_ , instead," Urd suggested.  
  
Thor saw the day Loki died — including the words he was not privy to between Balder and Loki, where Loki insisted that being exiled would not keep him or Thor from saving Asgard. He heard Loki's plea to the AllFather for the Norn Stones, which he used to grant the Avengers the power they needed to fight — at least for a few moments. And then the Void killed Loki, with Loki telling Thor that he was sorry just before being ripped apart.  
  
Thor was floored by the knowledge that flooded him throughout. He had thought at the time that Loki had really meant it, had really sacrificed himself to save Asgard, and was truly sorry; then, with what the Norns had shown, Thor had started to suspect otherwise. But as it all played out before them in the flames, Thor could feel Loki's multiverse-borne (or perhaps simply the nature of tricksters) madness take hold again. Things did not play out quite as Loki intended, but he took it in stride — and also regretted both the way things swerved from his intended course _and_ the whole plan. His wish to help was as much genuine as it was a ruse planned for selfish ends. The same, too, for his apology: it was part of his scheme, yet heartfelt all the same. What would have been either / or for anyone else was both truth and lie, simultaneously, for Loki. It was a little dizzying, and it left Thor likewise both hurt and happy.  
  
But since Asketill and the others could not feel what Thor did, again, things did not look good for Loki — and Thor had no way to prove what he knew.

Askitell laughed at the sisters. "You aid me, rather than hinder! Are you sure you know what you're about?"  
  
"We do," Verdandi promised. "Have you forgotten the beginning of the tale so quickly? Have you not paid attention now? He _could_ have destroyed Asgard completely _then_ , but did not. Loki arranged all that as a means to quit his Fate and return to Asgard anew, making his own choices. Were he truly Evil, he would have had no need or desire to convince Thor otherwise. He _could_ have taken over all of Asgard again if he'd truly wished it, or left her to her end at the hands of her enemies, or unleashed his own power at her. Instead, she is saved now, twice, because of him -- you likely would not be standing here now otherwise. Ergo, your belief that Loki is an eternally Evil being is not a sound one. As it seems to be one of your biggest arguments in favour of his eternal destruction, this would suggest that that such a course is not sound either."  
  
"Now," Urd took over, cutting off any argument Asketill might have made, "let us address your _current_ complaint, of the return of Surtur. If you still aren't convinced that this _child_ Loki should be granted at least some measure of clemency over that, then I offer you the most important reason of all for you to grant it: namely, that you're not _really_ putting the _boy_ on trial, since you're not actually trying him for the crime you claim to be. You're just using the raising of Surtur, compounded with his _past_ self's transgressions, as an excuse to be rid of him _before_ he can bring you grief."  
  
"In other words," Skuld explained, "you're intending to _murder_ the child both for crimes he didn't commit and, worse, for the one you only _imagine_ he will. It's not too unlike tossing out the mead that's in your cup _now_ without even drinking it because the _last_ time your cup was filled the mead tasted bad – and you'd at least partially spoilt it yourself. Don't misunderstand: if you know something to be a danger to you and yours, you have a right to strike it down for the sake of your own survival. But you do not know that of _this_ Loki — you may in fact destroy your savior rather than your destroyer."  
  
"How do you _know_ that Loki is different now? That he hasn't just saved us for some later purpose?" Thor asked. He wasn't doubting them exactly so much as he'd been worried about it ever since bringing Loki back, and hoped they could finally put his mind at ease. If _anyone_ would know the nature of this new Loki, it would be them, right? With their all-seeing, all-knowing eyes?  
  
Skuld gestured towards the flames. Thor saw the day he'd found the reborn Loki in France. He could feel the boy's constant fight or flight state, well-hidden by a cool exterior as Loki conned the crowd, putting the skill the universe had given him to good use in order to survive. This time Thor felt, rather than just saw, Loki's terror as Thor chased him through the streets, then caught the boy. Thor had, at the time, almost entirely believed Loki's tearful confession then about having no actual memories, just awful dreams about doing vile things that would see him hanged. This time, Thor could feel the truth of Loki's words, the boy's horror over those dreams, and how Loki didn't want to be that person. He felt the boy's terrible loneliness. And he felt Loki's boyish, irrepressible joy — and relief — after Thor restored some semblance of the child's self, his identity, to him; Loki wasn't alone anymore. Further, Thor's help and reassurances to Loki all instilled in the child a deep sense of loyalty to his "big brother", something not wholly unlike the imprinting of a mother duck on her young, with some hero worship thrown in.  
  
However one described it, it amounted to Loki loving his brother again, rather than hating him. Thor's own affection for his now-little brother washed over him, drowning out the sensations offered by the magickal fire for a moment. Whatever happened next, he wouldn't allow anything to harm the boy, even if it meant fighting off all of Asgard – including Odin. Of course, that had already been Thor's resolve, before the trial had even started, much less when he'd learned for certain Loki's true feelings. The sisters had only _strengthened_ Thor's resolve.  
  
The sisters weren't done with their demonstration, though.  
  
The flames showed the near-entirety of Loki's current life, after the day Thor had found him in France to now. The crowd was shown a scene where the elder Loki's spirit revealed his grand plan to his new, younger self. It was the most telling piece of evidence that the new Loki and the old were not quite the same being: nearly all of Loki's malevolence, it seemed, had been distilled into the old self, which got made by the new into the magpie Ikol (a fact Thor had actually long suspected), leaving only a little of the previous hate to make the boy "normal" (for even Thor had bit of hate in him). Thor was surprised to realise that, even then, the old Loki was not entirely Evil so much as pragmatic and selfish: he did not exist purely to bring grief, but rather to accomplish his own, chaotic ends. If those ends would actually bring joy to others in the process, so be it. Meanwhile, it seemed that the previous Loki had granted his new, child self a measure of his intelligence, a small fraction of mischief, a tiny smidgen of magick (but _only_ that, old Loki suggesting that it was partially the magick that had corrupted him so), and nearly all the love his previous self had ever had. That last proved to exist in far greater abundance than even Thor had imagined.  
  
"The greater the capacity to love, the greater, too, one's ability to hate," Skuld whispered. "Most criminals who kill with ease and regularity do so with indifference, not passion, but while Loki can at times be as indifferent — usually in order to get things done — he _does_ have passion in him. It was ever you who encouraged greatness in him, wonderful or terrible depending on if he was feeling love or hate for you at the time. And why not? It was you who most taught him, when he was still just a brutalised child of frost giants, what love was. Just take care that you never give this _new_ Loki reason to hate you. Although, I would not worry much," she added. "The new Loki seems of a much better temperament all around; you probably would have to work hard to anger him. But _love_ him, as you have been since his return, and you will only help his little golden heart to shine until it's brighter than the sun ...."  
  
Thor and the Asgardians saw Loki plead with a dwarf for the helmet he needed to save Thor's life; Thor felt the love and concern Loki held for him then. When Loki ignored Odin's warning that he would not aid Loki if he should be lost at the root of Yggdrasil in the process of saving Thor, Loki did not, for even one second, put fear for his life over Thor's safety. Sometime later, when Loki had nearly gotten flattened by a colossus in the hopes of winning Thor's approval, Thor had, on the day it had happened, been too lost in maudlin thoughts to pay much mind to the situation — or Sif's chastisement for said lack of attention. Watching now, though, Thor was horrified to find that his brother had been in such danger and he'd basically _ignored_ it. Worse still was Loki's total lack of self-preservation or understanding of the danger he'd been in until it was too late for the boy to save himself. All for the love of Thor — and a budding crush on Sif. At least _this_ Loki seemed to understand and accept that nothing could come of it, that Sif was both too old for and not fond of him, as well as committed to Thor. _This_ Loki did not begrudge Thor Sif's affections, but rather was happy for him.  
  
The night Loki had tried to cut Sif's hair again, Thor had feared that Loki was returning to old ways after all; it had worried and upset Thor some, but he had been half distracted by his strange, unhealing injury, feeling too lethargic and apathetic to do anything about Loki. But the Fates now showed him that Sif's hair was supposed to be the instrument of Thor's salvation from that wound. Loki hadn't taken the lock of hair because he was falling back on old tricks, but rather because he was, once again, desperate to save Thor's life! So desperate that, alone, he lowered himself into the dangerous roots of Yggdrasill, in order to do what the Fates said needed to be done to save Thor (which turned out to be a half-truth: Loki has saved Thor from Galactus with his actions, but not mended the wound. Thor would have words with them later about that ...). As if stealing Sif's hair again, just to get the means to do what Loki needed to from the Fates, hadn't been deadly enough!  
  
And what had Thor done in response? Grabbed his brother by the throat and threatened to kill him. Thor wished he could go back and throttle himself as he'd tried to do to Loki.  
  
And yet Loki, despite how Thor had treated him (even if Thor did later apologise), performed such a deed thrice! The lastest time he'd done it, Loki had tried to learn about the next pending doom to Asgard, and returned shaken so badly that he wept over his findings, at least until Ikol chastened him for it. And so the boy began a long, dangerous campaign that involved journeys into Hel, Hell, and even Limbo, facing some of the most dangerous beings in all the realms — and did so without any help from Thor, save for the advice that launched the boy on his mission in the first place. Thor was amazed at Loki's bravado and wiliness — and aggrieved at his own absence at Loki's side, even if he was in prison for some of that while. Where had he been after Loki had freed him? Too wound up in the affairs of Midgard.  
  
And this time, Loki hadn't worked just to save Thor, but rather _everyone_ — Asgardian and Midgardian alike, even those who had shunned or tried to harm him. And he hadn't saved everyone just because Thor would want him to, but because young Loki truly felt the sacrifice of Midgard for Asgard was wrong — something the Loki of old wouldn't have believed. Old Loki would have sacrificed Midgard in a heartbeat — and maybe even Asgard, too. He _had_ , in his Ragnarok-seeking days. The _new_ Loki, on the other hand, would sacrifice _himself_ for both realm — had already risked doing so, knowing full well that none would love him for it. Loki had even believed, Thor could feel by way of the flames, that Thor would hate him as much as everyone else would — and still went through with it.  
  
Thor was not ashamed by the tears that now fell freely down his face. No, he was ashamed by his _actions_ : he had promised Loki that he would be there for him, look after him, but he had failed. Worse, Loki had given his all to save _Thor_ , time and time again. Thor looked about now and saw more than a fair few in a state not unlike his own, saw realisation on their faces and sometimes even a wet glistening on their cheeks. He was gratified to find star-like glittering in the eyes of his most treasured companions, Sif, Fandral, even Hogun. Volstagg was bawling enough to make his mead into salt-water! Odin, meanwhile ... Thor suspected that his father had, like Thor, felt in the flames everything that Loki had, and to a similar effect as Thor: the old man's single eye was the source of no small waterfall.  
  
But not everyone was impressed or swayed by what the flames had revealed.  
  
"How do we even know you're telling the truth?" Asketill demanded. "How do we know this isn't another of Loki's tricks? You probably aren't even the Weird Sisters at all! You don't talk like them!"  
  
"Spoken to us often, have you? Are we _never_ allowed to speak in anything but riddles? By whose say, save our own? Maybe it suits us normally to speak that way, and simply doesn't now. As for proof of who we are, shall we show you things only you and the all-seeing Fates would know?" Verdandi offered.  
  
The flames showed the man in a number of compromising circumstances.  
  
"Lies!" he hissed, drawing his sword.  
  
"You know the truth, Asketill. If need be, we can do this for each and every person here who doubts." Urd's smile was chilling.  
  
"But you do not have any more time to wait for such evidence, Thor," Skuld said, "so I pray you believe us. You must hasten to Loki's side now, and convince him that you still want him around, before he perishes from a broken heart."  
  
Thor didn't dare ask the woman what she meant, but simply ran off, with Sif and the Warriors Three close behind him.  
  
“| ==V== |”  
Young Loki didn't even know he was crying until the taste of salt touched his tongue. Even then, he barely noted it, overwhelmed by a grief so tight he could scarcely breathe, sorrow forming a vice around his ribs, his heart, and a rock in his throat. He doubled over, trembling under the strain, his face screwed into a somewhat better-looking twin of a gargoyle.  
  
It was every bit as bad as his nightmares had said. His elder self had wrought so much horror upon his fellow beings, like a hurricane or a plague — no wonder everyone hated him, couldn't trust him! In their shoes, Loki would not either!  
  
And yet ... they, too, had visited countless cruelties upon the previous Loki — even Thor had done so. Loki's grief extended some to that same previous self. As he'd watched, he'd felt the old Loki's loneliness, his jealousy, his pain, felt how he'd become warped. The terrible beginning that had been visited upon that other Loki as a child had led to that child performing even more terrible deeds in retaliation, which in turn had led to a most terrible end.  
  
But Thor, despite some passing cruelty, had become a good man — Loki wasn't so positive he could be that good. Wasn't sure that, under the weight of so much hatred, he would not also grow bitter and tainted. The thought of it sickened and terrified him, as did the thought of Thor being so mistreated for his support and protection of his brother. Thor could do great things — but not with Loki's past weighing him down.  
  
"Does Loki cry?" Ikol asked, as he had once before.  
  
"Yes. Yes he does," Loki answered this time.  
  
Loki began to grow green, like the fire.  
  
"Don't you dare!" snapped Ikol. "Did you learn nothing from all that? I told you not to take credit for my deeds! Kill _me!_ I told you that the only person Loki sacrifices himself for is himself — if _you_ die, you'll be doing it for _them!_ "  
  
The green glow faded slightly, and Loki glanced up at his feathered companion, considering. "Times change, and so does Loki. That's what you wanted, wasn't it? A Loki that changes? We are no longer the same being — and therefore killing _you_ would be murder, not suicide."  
  
"So?"  
  
"I am not a killer, Ikol. Not anymore."  
  
"Then let _them_ kill me!"  
  
"I will not let someone _else_ become a killer in my stead, either. And besides: you are no longer Loki. Asgard will not be satisfied by _your_ loss, and they will never fully accept Thor again until _I_ am no longer at his side." _Unless he truly has given up on me, in which case I no longer want to live anyway_ , Loki thought to himself.  
  
"Then _run!_ " Ikol squawked.  
  
"They will still blame him for my existence. They will never be comfortable with the thought of me around, no matter how far away I am. I am sorry that your plan did not work out," Loki added, the green glow starting to increase.  
  
He lay down in a fetal position, the cold stone beneath him offering a soothing counterpoint to the steadily growing heat of his magic. His lifeforce fueled the glow, and would until that force went out, like a candle. Then, as per the terms of the spell, it would finish his soul off, next. This Loki would simply cease to exist at all; no one could capture or claim his soul, and Thor could not retrieve it again. They would all be free of the curse that was Loki, Ikol being nothing but an echo.  
  
c==[]  
Thor felt like his heart had been gripped in icy claws when he saw his brother curled up on the floor of his cell, surrounded by a strange, green glow. He glanced at the lock on the iron-barred door with fury that it should dare keep him from his brother. He almost snapped Volstagg's head off when the broad man tapped his shoulder, but relaxed some when he saw the key ring in held up with fat fingers. Like lightning, Thor snatched the ring and slammed a key home, hearing a satisfying click on the first try.  
  
It was as if he teleported: one minute he was outside the cell, and the next he was cradling his brother's too-still, tiny form in his arms, ignoring Sif's too-late warning that the green glow might bring him harm. It didn't matter if it would, anyway: nothing would keep him from saving his brother. Not even Loki himself.  
  
"Loki!" he demanded as he shook the seemingly lifeless child; if Loki were already dead, the glow would be gone, right?  
  
Loki obliged him, opening his eyes slightly. "Thor ...," he began weakly, "I am sorry ... for the trouble that I ... always seem to bring you .... I'll be ... out of your hair ... soon ...." The boy managed a fleeting grin.  
  
"And who said I wanted that!" Thor growled. He would _kill_ whoever—  
  
"You did," Loki replied, sounding faintly puzzled — and not at all accusatory. A tear formed and fell down already wet, pale cheeks. "I ... I _heard_ you ... a little while ago ...." Loki turned his head away, stifling a sob.  
  
"What are you—"  
  
Fandral, kneeling beside them, was holding a torch; it flared to green life. In its flames, Thor saw himself from behind, and heard himself saying, " _You were right, it was a mistake! I regret bringing him back! Does that make you happy?_ "  
  
Thor panicked — was he about to lose his brother because of something he'd said and hadn't even _meant??_ "Loki, you didn't hear all of what I said! I—"  
  
The torch flashed, drawing both their attention. It rewound the scene a little.  
  
" _What do you want me to say?_ " Thor was snapping at his friends." _'You were right, it was a mistake! I regret bringing him back!' Does that make you happy? It never pleased you to hear Loki lie, so why should it please you to hear_ me _do so now? Because that's what it is — a lie! I don't regret one single_ second _of his return! I would do it again in a heartbeat, and if any of you should ask me to choose between you and him, you will be sorely disappointed!_ " he snarled.  
  
Thor's friends shifted uncomfortably. "We are sorry for that, Loki," Sif said hesitantly.  
  
"Aye," Volstagg agreed. "We did not understand, but the Norns showed us all you went through on our behalf. We are indebted to you."  
  
"And it is hard to pay back debts to the dead," Hogun added, grim as ever.  
  
"So end your spell, little one," Fandral urged, laying a hand on the child's brow. "Asgard still needs you — still _wants_ you."  
  
"As do I, brother. I care not what any in Asgard might say — you are far more important to me than any fool who would cast you out or worse. I would abandon Asgard before you; please don't leave me again," Thor pleaded.  
  
"I ... I think it may be too late, brother. I do not know how to stop the spell."  
  
The boy closed his eyes. The glow began to fade — and not because Loki had ended it, but rather because his _life_ was fading.  
  
Even so, Thor was certain that Loki had lied about not knowing how to end the spell; perhaps it was the green flame still working, still sharing Loki's feelings with Thor — or perhaps Thor just knew his brother that well. Loki didn't _want_ to end the spell. Thor could feel that Loki still believed the world was better off without him — that the others only spoke so for Thor's benefit, and that the world hated him still. The loneliness had become near unbearable. Thor's affection was a balm that had seen Loki through all these days, but it came with a side effect: guilt over how others treated Thor for his loyalty to Loki.  
  
But there was more to the guilt than that, Thor realised as the green torch cast its light over them: Loki must have seen his past. Why had the Norns done this, convinced Asgard to save the child, only to drive the child to take his life himself? Thor and Loki both would say Asgard did not deserve Loki — and mean something completely opposite in the saying of it.  
  
" _I_ know how to stop the spell," came a gruff, booming voice from the door. "And stop it I will."  
  
The green glow around Loki was faint now as Odin knelt beside him, brushing the hair from his foster-son's brow — the glow vanished with the touch.  
  
Thor gasped. "Is he—"  
  
"No. I just stopped the spell, is all," Odin assured him. Thor could see the regret behind Odin's eyes, the wish to make amends. This man would not have ended his son's life. "But his lifeforce is nearly gone; we must share some of ours to replenish it, or he will still die."  
  
Odin's hand glowed gold, reminding Thor of the Odinsleep. Thor's own hand began glowing similarly, a moment later, on Loki's arm. Sif reached out, but Odin stayed her hand.  
  
"It will not work if you bear no love for him; in fact, you will harm him — and then I will kill you," the AllFather stated matter-of-factly.  
  
Sif reached out without hesitation, with Volstagg next, then Fandral — and then even Hogun.  
  
Their hands all glowed gold. Loki went from deathly cold to almost feverish in Thor's arms.  
  
When the glow faded, Loki's eyes fluttered open. He sat up and stared at everyone in confusion. "I'm ... alive?"  
  
Odin nodded. "And you know what that means?"  
  
Loki nodded back, glistening eyes wide in awe. His breathe hitched. "You don't entirely hate me," he whispered. His visible effort to hold back tears (and with them, likely emotions that the fire suggested had been building in him since his rebirth) quickly failed.  
  
Odin wrapped his massive arms around his son, rocking the boy gently and stroking his hair as Loki sobbed against his chest. "No, we don't. I'm not going to lie and say that we have never hated you, but I can say that hate and love aren't mutually exclusive. Even when I despised the things your past self did, I have always loved my children — and you _are_ one of them. Because we _are_ family, we have the potential to anger each other like no others," he added ruefully. "But right now, I only love you, and will allow no one to harm you — not even from you yourself."  
  
"But ... will it not make your rule all the harder, not putting an end to me as the people wish?" Loki asked, his voice muffled by Odin's shirt.  
  
Such words coming from not just his brother, but a _child,_ chilled Thor. That his people could make a mere boy believe that he should _die_ over acts not even his own made Thor sick.  
  
"Such a people would not be worth ruling," Odin assured Loki. "But fear not — the verdict of the people was, by an overwhelming majority, that you are Asgard's _hero_ , not a traitor."  
  
Thor felt something uncoil in him, a tension he'd had ever since Loki had returned finally relaxing. Not that Loki had _no_ enemies anymore, but at least the boy would be safer, now that their people weren't unanimously clamouring for his head! And if Thor could forgive the Loki of old, he could forgive his people, too — now that they had shown, like Loki, that they were capable of change.  
  
"Father? For what it's worth, I _am_ sorry," Loki said, still not meeting Odin's eye.  
  
"For what, lad?"  
  
"I saw in the flames the things I had once done — _horrible_ things. I cannot fault anyone for hating me over them."  
  
Odin sighed. "You are no more that man than _I_ am. I will make you forget—"  
  
"No!"  
  
Loki pulled away, struggling to rise, Thor getting to his feet as well. Standing, Loki swayed; Thor steadied him, worried that the healing might not have been enough.  
  
"I am that Loki's past," Loki panted. "I want to remember what he became so that he does not become my future again! And so I understand when anyone looks at me with mistrust or disdain."  
  
"I don't think that will happen now, but the memories of the previous Loki drove him to become exactly what you fear!"  
  
"Under different circumstances," Loki countered reasonably. "There is a step of distance between me and those memories; I can look at them as a cautionary tale, rather than something to seek vengeance for. I understand why the others fear and hate me, why they treated me as they did upon my return. There is no bitterness in my heart over it. Take away those memories, though, and I will lack that understanding. Just because most of Asgard has forgiven me does not mean all; do not take away my reason to forgive _them_."  
  
Odin sighed again. "All right, boy." Thor knew that this was but a temporary agreement; if Odin ever felt like Loki might turn towards darkness again because of those memories, or that they were too much of a burden, he knew his father would wipe them away again. He hoped Odin never felt the need to.  
  
Loki's legs buckled then, and Thor caught him, hoisting the virtually weightless child into his arms. Loki's eyes fluttered, and his head lolled against Thor's shoulder.  
  
"He just needs rest," Odin assured Thor, kissing Loki's brow. "Watch over him," he commanded — not just to Thor, but to Sif and the Warriors as well. Thor saw them all nod.  
  
As Thor carried little Loki to his room, Loki snuggled further into his arms and sighed contentedly, a faint, happy smile on his lips.  
  
"Tomorrow will be a better day," Thor promised quietly.  
  
"Yes, it will," Ikol, perched on a torch holder high overhead, said to himself, a look something like fondness in his black, beady eyes. " _Finally._ Sorry it took a bit longer than I thought, son."  
  
The torch flared green for a moment.  
  
~FINIS~

**Author's Note:**

> I choose to think that, in light of Odin's words to Heimdall in Journey into Mystery #625.1 (where Odin said that Loki is his son, regardless of blood, and that he would not give any of his sons up after said son returned to him from beyond the void), Odin's harshness towards Loki otherwise has been a mix of tough love, putting on an act for Asgard, and a simple godly tendency for revisionist history (ie, a lack of continuity amongst the writers). XD
> 
> It should be noted that Loki is, among other things, the Norse God of Fire. ;p
> 
> There's more Loki stuff (and other Marvel fanworks), including links to my "Looking at Loki" column, and my Loki cosplays and crafts, to be found at my [Marvel fansite](http://mc.wolfenm.com). I also have a Trickster-oriented tumblr blog, [hellyeahtrickster](http://hellyeahtrickster.tumblr.com).
> 
> ###########  
> If you've enjoyed my writing, I invite you to explore my original fantasy storyverse, [Gaiankind](http://gaiankind.com)! You can even find Gaiankind stories for free [here](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Gaiankind) on AO3!


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